Feelings Are the Real Kissing Disease
by sweetheart-bitterheart
Summary: Axl/Sue. Once Sue gets her braces and headgear removed, Axl starts to realize Sue is actually pretty and he may have difficult feelings for her, and feelings are hard to shake.
1. 1

**Author's Note:** Okay, this took me longer to write than I would've liked. I had a birthday and some family stuff come up (still in the midst of actually, grrr!) but alas I've got the first chapter down and am actively working on the second one. I'm thinking this will be about six chapters long. Also, I'm so happy there's a Axl/Sue livejournal now so I'll be crossposting this over at my own livejournal and at the Axl/Sue one. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

* * *

The day Sue officially got her braces and headgear removed was also the day that Axl came to a startling revelation; _Sue was actually pretty_. Not hot, or drop dead gorgeous, but definitely pretty in a certain way. Sue had always been kinda cute, in Axl's nonchalant opinion, but without the clutter and distraction of her braces and headgear, her own special brand of pretty was coming through.

He didn't know what to do with this sudden realization about his sister.

It was becoming a distraction in a whole new way. Axl found himself staring at her far more often and at the most random times, leaving him barely just enough time to turn away before she noticed. He was also starting to feel guilty every day when she had to slink down on the floor of the passenger's seat when they neared the high school. The confusion he felt was almost as daunting as the strange, very un-sibling like affection he was starting to feel towards his sister.

* * *

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

This was a litany running through Axl's head.

He knew he wasn't the smartest person around but realizing you have not-so-brotherly feelings for your sister was especially stupid. He knew that but it had been getting harder to ignore the way his eyes were always drawn to Sue whenever she was in the room, or the way his stomach did these somersault-like flips when she did something he previously thought was embarrassing but now found cute, or especially the way he would stare at her lips when she spoke only to wonder how soft they were and how they would feel against his own.

Sue was adorably oblivious to any change in his behavior. So were their parents. If Brick picked up on anything, he hadn't said a word (to Axl, at least).

He felt he was he was slowly going crazy, like he was falling deeper and deeper into a hole he knew he'd never get out of.

Axl hadn't even realized he'd been dazing directly at Sue at the dinner table until he heard a loud scoff come from his left.

"Mom! Tell Axl to stop staring at me!" Sue yelled, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout, as she sent a glare in Axl's direction.

"Axl, stop staring at Sue," Frankie scolded him with very little concern.

Axl turned from Sue to his mother, eyes narrowed and lips pursed, and said, "I wasn't staring at _her_. I was staring at the piece of chicken stuck in her teeth."

"What?" Sue shouted, glaring first at Axl then grabbing a spoon to examine her teeth in the reflective utensil, but not really being able to see much. She then stood up, scurrying off to the bathroom to assess the damage done to her vastly improved teeth. Axl rolled his eyes, mostly in the direction of their parents.

"Axl!" Both parents shouted at their eldest son.

He just shrugged, "What? I was being nice!"

"If that's you being nice, that's depressing," Brick added, eyes going wide, then muttered one more "depressing" under his breath.

Axl scrunched his face up in aggravation and gripped his fork a little more tightly than was absolutely necessary.

"Apologize to your sister," Mike ordered Axl. The look on his face annoyingly threatening, so Axl couldn't help but attempt to take his dad seriously. Frankie nodded her head in agreement, indicating Axl needed to apologize right now.

After shoving the last bits of his dinner in his mouth, Axl stood up and made his way out of the kitchen, grumbling all the while.

Sue was still in the bathroom, staring intently into the mirror and flossing her teeth ferociously. Axl leaned against the door frame, watching her for a few seconds, before speaking.

"It's almost like you exist just to make me laugh," he said.

Sue jumped, string of floss now stuck between her teeth, and turned to him. "Axl!" she groaned.

He threw his arms up in mock surrender. She ignored him and plucked the floss from her mouth.

"Okay, so I'm supposed to apologize to you for being a good brother," he told her.

A short silence followed after. Sue turned to him again with eager eyes.

"That _was_ me apologizing," he said.

"Axl! You have to actually say the words 'I'm sorry' otherwise it doesn't count."

"Oh, really? Are these the official rules for apologizing?"

"Axl!" This time when she screeched out his name, she also stomped her foot.

Even though it was so childish, Axl still smiled at that display with genuine feeling, despite how fleeting it was.

They stared at each other. Sue with puppy dog eyes and pout, and Axl with a small smirk.

"Fine. I'm sorry, Sue. Are we good? Awesome," he spoke quickly, the sudden urge to bolt was a bit overwhelming. He moved to leave her alone again.

Sue's face betrayed nothing about the inner workings of her brain, which Axl found odd because Sue was always so easy to read, until her lips formed into a bright smile.

"Aw, Axl!" she practically cooed, and he cringed a little.

She was still smiling at him with these huge eyes which seemed to be invisibly connected to a thread around his chest, so now every time she blinked it became difficult for him to breathe.

He coughed and turned away, said without looking at her, "Great. Whatever."

Inside the safety of his own room, he started to think that feelings were actually the real kissing disease. Once you got them, it was hard to fully get rid of them.

He felt sick to his stomach.


	2. 2

**Author's Note:** Okay, here it is! The second chapter! A month later, sorry about that. I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I like most parts of it but then again I don't like other parts. The ending is kinda meh because I didn't know exactly how to end it. Anyway, I digress, please enjoy it though!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

* * *

For the next four days, Axl had been hell-bent on ignoring Sue as much as a human possibly could when they lived together, drove to school together, and also went to said school together. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Sue was only slowly starting to notice.

On day five of Axl ignoring Sue, she finally noticed something was off with him and, of course, in a very Sue-like fashion decided to say something about it. She cornered him on his way from the bathroom to his bedroom.

"Hey!" She practically yelped, standing directly in front of him. Axl made a disgruntled noise that went unnoticed by his sister. "Why have you been ignoring me more than usual?" she asked him.

Axl met her eyes – only saw confusion and concern burning in them – and didn't know whether to throw those feelings back in her face or use them to his advantage. Both had equally good and bad results. He grit in his teeth.

"Because I felt like it," he bit out.

Sue only pouted, "But why? What is something I said? Or did? Or wore? Axl, tell me and I'll fix it!"

Axl scoffed and pushed past Sue to get to his room. Luckily Brick was stuck doing something with their parents in the backyard (something to do with growing a plant for science class, whatever, Axl didn't really pay attention).

Of course, Sue believed the reason why Axl was ignoring her was her fault. And it was, mostly, because now she was pretty and unattainable and just down right adorable. But it was also Axl's fault too because there was something wrong with him for being attracted to her now.

Sue had followed him into his room, still rambling on about what she could possibly to make Axl not ignore her anymore.

Jeez, it was only Friday afternoon, was he going to have to endure her pestering him all weekend long?

He yelled "Sue!" to shut her up. Her mouth clamped shut and she glared at him. "You didn't do anything. Your embarrassing existence should be enough for me to ignore you, which I would like to continue to do now. So get out!"

He held his door open and gestured for her to move.

"No, I'm not gonna leave until you tell me why you're being such a jerk," she said, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout once more.

"Ugh! Sue!" he said, rolling his eyes, mostly to avoid the steady gaze she was keeping on him.

"Will you just tell me what your problem is, Axl?" she pleaded with him.

Axl looked everywhere but her face. "My problem?" he scoffed again. "Well, it's about this tall," he said as he held up a hand at her height, "and answers to the name 'Sue'. But other than that, I don't have a problem."

Sue glared at him, still pouting, "You do!"

"I don't!" he protested.

"You so do!"

"I really don't!"

"Just tell me!"

"ARGH!" he groaned and began to bang his head against the door repeatedly.

Sue gasped, "Axl!" She then reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. Easily feeling the tension in his muscles she had a sudden urge to soothe him, to calm him down in any possible way she could think of. She couldn't help but still hesitate though.

Unwilling to meet her eyes, he groaned again, "Sue, just leave."

It was quiet in the air between them until Sue said, "No."

He looked up then and glared, a sinking feeling growing in his stomach. Sue's bottom lip was caught between her teeth as she nibbled on it. A habit of hers that signified she was feeling anxious. A habit of hers Axl was noticing far too often and becoming obsessed with. She was watching him a little too carefully now. There was something in the way he kept looking at her, as if he was thinking something – words on the tip of his tongue – but not saying them aloud.

They both opened their mouths to speak at the same exact time.

"I'm not-"

"Just get-"

They each glared. Axl let out another groan and gripped the edge of door tighter.

"Sue," he said, frustrated, wanting to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her, "your _lips_."

"What?" she asked, confused, "What about them?"

He stared at her. At her lips. Which were … pink. And parted, revealing glimpses of newly clear and straight teeth. It was hard to think about lips without thinking about kissing, even if the lips in question were Sue's. That's just… natural. It was inevitable.

It was—

It was _Sue_, for God's sake.

_Get a grip, Axl_, he thought with helpless exasperation.

Sue's bottom lip was now sporting a small drop of blood from her nibbling incessantly on it. He had to force his eyes away as she sucked on her lip once more to absorb the blood.

"God, Sue!" he snapped and practically from his doorway and out into the kitchen. Sue followed behind, confused and flushed.

"Axl!" She bellowed after him.

"Get away from me!"

They were shouting at each other loudly when Brick and their parents entered the kitchen from the backyard with bemused looks.

"Hey! What's going on with you two?" Mike asked, his voice rising above both of theirs.

Sue and Axl stopped their shouting match to turn to their father. Again, they both opened their mouths to speak at the same time.

"Sue won-"

"Axl is be-"

Their voices rose and the words overlapped that no one in the kitchen could understand anything. Frankie and Mike shared a look.

"Okay, okay," Mike said.

Sue's ranting stuttered to a stop at her father's voice despite her look of contempt sent at Axl, but he just kept going on.

"She should just except her fate of being ignored by older, cooler, awesome people and not bother me!" he spewed out. At this point, no one really knew what Axl was talking about.

"Axl, calm down," Mike told him sternly.

"I am calm! I am like a babbling brook!" he said indignantly, and Mike just rolled his eyes. Axl didn't take notice.

Sue was still watching him a little too carefully and he was paranoid she was catching onto to his now most guarded secret.

"This family is ridiculous!" Axl shouted, throwing his arm up in the air, "And not in a good way!" He started to make his way back to his and Brick's room, this time without Sue following, leaving the rest of his family dumbfounded.

"You should be used to it by now," Frankie yelled to him.

A loud shout of irritation was the only response she got.


End file.
